Monday Meme: I Can Sleep Because God is Awake

Going to sleep and staying asleep are simple goals.  Sometimes, my brain does not know how to shut off.  In my mind, I constantly try to solve problems or schedule appointments. Or THE great comeback pops in my mind, and then I berate myself for not having thought of it ten hours earlier.

I look at my husband, ZZZZing away, and I am jealous.  I’ve asked him, “How do you just sleep?”  He replies, “Easy. I’m tired and close my eyes.  I sleep.”

I can only wish.

At night my brain can process.  There are no interruptions or new input.  I can focus.  That is such a luxury!! I can think of ONE thing at a time. The bad side is that I wake up tired, and the next day is upon me, when I have not finished yesterday.

Earlier this Lent, my dad told me that sometimes I need to let God have a chance.  That really hit me.  So I do what I can during the day, and then I give it to the Good Lord at night.

There’s certainly no sense in both of us being awake at night.

Friday Feasting: Minestrone

"The kids and I were invited to a sweet friend's house a few weeks ago for lunch and a playdate and it was a Friday during Lent.  For us, we are pretty simple with our Lenten meals - pancakes, fish sticks, egg & tuna sandwhiches, meatless pasta dishes, and more - super simple is the "name of our game"!  So, when we arrived to our friend's house to the amazing aroma of a yummy homemade soup simmering on her stove, I was overtaken with appreciation from the hospitality she showed to us by all the work put into it!  (She's an amazing friend, if you haven't got the hint yet!  I just love her to pieces!)  Anyways, I *had* to make the same recipe for my own family the next Friday.  So we searched online and found one very similar to hers and tweaked it a little.  Our kids gobbled it down at her house, that I actually had to make it a second time during Lent!  And once again, it was gobbled down!!  You can make the meatless version (see below) or even brown up a pound of ground beef or sausage to make it more hearty.  But the meatless version was amazing in itself!!  Enjoy, my sweet friends!!"

Ingredients

1/2 cup minced onion
1 small yellow zuchinni - diced
1 small green zuchinni - diced
1 bag frozen cut green beans
1 bag of crinkle cut carrots
1/2 cup minced celery
2 teaspoons minced garlic
4 cups of vegetable broth
2 - 15 oz cans red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
2 - 15 oz cans great northern beans (drained and rinsed)
1 - 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Directions

1.  Pour everything into your crock pot and stir.  Let cook on LOW for 8 hours.
2.  Serve with bread - store bought or homemade (you can even try Ma Lorij's homemade rolls!).
3.  Serve with parmesan sprinkled on top, if desired!

Variations

***you can add small shell pasta for the last 30 minutes, if you want (we did not, but it's a popular minestrone ingredient).
***you can also add meat - ground beef or sausage.  Up to you!!  Or the meatless version we ate was amazing too!
***you can also switch out the broth to chicken broth, for a meat version

The Power of Lent - Or Why I Choose To Make My Children Suffer

I found the perfect Easter dress for my daughter at Costco while shopping for fish sticks, fruits, vegetables and other Lenten fare. The dress was pink, and sparkly and twirly, everything my girly girl wants in a dress. I knew I better buy it quickly, or by the time I got back to the store, it could be gone. When I got back home, I spirited the dress away to my closet, to wait until Easter.

Katherine, my 4 year old and only girl, saw the dress right away.  I think she must have some sort of radar for beautiful clothes. She asked me, “Mommy, please??” It would have been so easy to say “Yes.” She wanted this dress so badly. But I knew there was something bigger at stake here.  So, I made one of the difficult parenting choices I seem to have to make every day, and I told her “No.” She cried. She fussed. She told me she didn’t love me. I told her I loved her so much, and no, she couldn’t have the dress. It was for Easter, a very Special day, and she had to wait.

Almost every day this Lent, she asked me for that dress. And every day I told her that she would have to wait. She cried, she wailed, she told me I didn’t love her. She tried to bargain. But of course, she didn’t know that this decision of mine had nothing to do with the dress itself.

This decision had to do with the time, a few years from now, that a group of friends would be making fun of the kid with intellectual disabilities and the easy thing, the thing that would give her instant gratification, would be to go along, to gain social acceptance by taking the path of least resistance.  Another little while, and the temptation to find “love” in the arms of a boy, who might not realize that he is taking something which does not belong to him, might overwhelm her. In myriad ways, the world will give her opportunities to take the easy path, to skirt the rules, to give in to temptation.

This girl needs muscles. This world is tough. It takes no prisoners.

I love her enough to tell her “No.” To tell her that there is something more important than our own gratification. To teach her that good things are worth waiting for, and, more importantly, she is worth waiting for.

Easter came, and my daughter knew it was time. The dress was waiting for her, and she was going to get ready for the Celebration. I helped her take a shower, braided her hair, applied a little lip gloss and a hint of eyeshadow. I painted her nails. Then, she put on the dress.

The joy she felt wiped away her sorrow at having to wait. And her joy was more complete for having waited. She was radiant, and in a small way, her sacrifice and eventual satisfaction gave her a taste of the Resurrection.

I am thankful to be a part of a Church which gives me a chance to experience a little piece of suffering, to carry a little bit of the cross, and to unite my sufferings to Christ. And I am so happy to have the privilege of sharing the same with my children – that their joy, and mine, might be complete.

Monday Meme: The Call to Faithfulness

I love this quote attributed to Mother Teresa (soon to be St. Mother Teresa!!) I think it applies to so
many areas of our lives including: marriage, motherhood, sisterhood, friendship, our finances, our
hobbies, etc.

We aren't always going to attain the goal we originally set out for and that's okay because God is
looking at the journey, too. How do we respond to the setbacks, the failures, the fear, the aches, the
suffering? Do we turn to prayer? Do we ask for help? Are we making use of the sacraments? Are we
fasting?

God just wants us to keep going, to keep praying, to keep loving, to never stop being faithful to that
which He has called us. I promise you, without a doubt, that He is always there for you.

Friday Feasting: Island Pork Salad

Island Pork Salad

This Holy Week I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go on retreat. The retreat was so lovely. Meals were prepared which nourished our bodies while we spent time with God, getting to know ourselves and Him better in a beautiful atmosphere.  I love retreats – can you tell?

One of my favorite meals was the Island Pork Tenderloin Salad from Epicurious. The citrus vinaigrette combines with the rich avocado and spicy pork to create a wonderful, palette pleasing well balanced meal.  It is served on a bed of greens mixed with sweet bell peppers. For my family, I doubled the recipe found on the site.

My kids are adventuresome eaters, and they just loved this one.  I think it helps that there was so much variety to choose from, so if there was something in the salad they did not prefer, they still had a complete meal with the rest of it.  And fruit is always a hit in a salad at our place.  It turns it into such a treat.

I love looking for inspiration wherever I go, and I am so glad I asked for this recipe.  It is going to go into our rotation for sure.  All the kids loved it and so did the adults.  Couldn’t ask for more.